MASS MOCA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Alicia Hall Moran is a multi-dimensional artist performing and composing opera, theater, and jazz. Pushing the boundaries of music in concerts and collaborations noted for their flair, intelligence, and audacity, Moran's work transcends mediums while upholding the traditions of her ancestors and teachers. She has gained international recognition for her technical virtuosity and brilliant interpretation of song, with her critically acclaimed pieces the motown project, The Five Fans, and BLEED. With the release of her debut album HEAVY BLUE, Moran was extolled by All About Jazz for "forging her own [American Songbook] out of labor and love. Indeed, she is a culture in and of herself, rising like a sunrise too bright to drink in, except in smallest sips."
In partnership with husband and collaborator jazz pianist Jason Moran, she was awarded a 2017 Art of Change fellowship by the Ford Foundation, and has generated work for the Venice Biennale, Whitney Biennial, and Walker Art Center, among many others. Moran made her lauded Broadway debut as Bess in the Tony-winning revival of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. She has been commissioned by ArtPublic/Miami Art Basel, Museum of Modern Art, The Kitchen, and Histories Remixed/Art Institute of Chicago, and has collaborated with celebrated artists including Carrie Mae Weems, Adam Pendleton, Joan Jonas, Ragnar Kjartansson, Simone Leigh, choreographer Bill T. Jones, musicians such as Bill Frisell, Charles Lloyd, and writers from Simon Schama to Carl Hancock Rux.
Joining Moran as her attention turns to the rink is the NYC jazz trio Harriet Tubman. Named after the heroic African-American figure, Harriet Tubman formed in 1998 when drummer J.T. Lewis, guitarist Brandon Ross, and bassist Melvin Gibbs came together to start a band. Deeply inspired by the ideals of freedom, Harriet Tubman's music explores the soul's depths for liberated musical expression and continues the process of musical innovation begun by such artists as Ornette Coleman, Jimi Hendrix, Derrick May, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Parliament-Funkadelic.
On Saturday, January 27, at 8pm, Moran takes to the rink in an all-out musical fantasy for the concert stage, bringing the mid-winter freeze inside for this blazing Spanish epic - no triple axels included. Lickety Split, MASS MoCA's in-house café, serves up fresh salads, homemade soup, and lip-smacking pub fare. The MASS MoCA bar is always well-stocked with local beer from Bright Ideas Brewing and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Tickets are $5 for students and members, $14 in advance, $20 day of, and $30 preferred. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 11am to 5pm every day except Tuesdays. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 x1 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org. All events are held rain or shine.
Rachel Howard Paintings of Violence (Why I am not a mere Christian)
Allison Janae Hamilton was born in Kentucky in 1984 and raised in Florida, and her maternal family's farm and homestead lies in the rural flatlands of western Tennessee. She received her Ph.D. in American Studies at New York University and her MFA in Visual Arts at Columbia University where she studied with Sanford Biggers and met mentor Joan Jonas. Hamilton was a 2013-2014 Fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program. She has exhibited at museums and institutions such as the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; the Jewish Museum, New York, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; and the Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA. Hamilton has been awarded artist residencies at Recess, New York, NY; Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain (selected by Joan Jonas); the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY; and the Rush Arts Foundation, New York, NY. Her artwork has appeared in publications such as Transition Magazine, Women and Performance, Arte Al Limite, NKA: Journal of Contemporary African Art, and Artforum. She lives and works in New York City.
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Mayor, City of North Adams ( Chair )
Job Titles:
- Director of Communications
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Jennifer Trainer Thompson
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Larry Ossei-Mensah is a Ghanaian-American independent curator and cultural critic who has organized exhibitions at a variety of venues throughout New York City, featuring artists Firelei Baez, ruby amanze, Hugo McCloud, Brendan Fernandes, and Derek Fordjour, among others. He has contributed to publications such as NeueJournal, Uptown, and Whitewall Magazine, and has written about Derrick Adams, Mickalene Thomas, Kehinde Wiley, Lorna Simpson, and street artist JR, among others. Ossei-Mensah is also the co-founder of ART NOIR, a global collective of culturalists who design experiences aimed to engage this generation's dynamic and diverse creative class. ART NOIR has organized programs with artists, authors, and organizations such as Wangechi Mutu, Yaa Gyasi, Hank Willis Thomas, Knopf, Random House, The New York Times, Harvard, NYU, Tumblr, and Black Lives Matter. Ossei-Mensah was the 2017 Critic-in-Residence at Art Omi and currently serves as a mentor in the New Museum's incubator program, NEW INC., in addition to being a member of MoMA's Friends of Education.
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
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- Treasurer of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Gupta is a co-founder and artistic director of the non-profit collective Brooklyn Raga Massive, a group rooted in and inspired by Indian classical music and hailed by The New Yorker as the "leaders of the raga renaissance." As an established voice in the jazz, world, and fusion music scenes, Gupta is recognized for melding traditional and modern improvisational styles, creating a distinct sound all his own. From bebop to avant-garde jazz, and European classical percussion to North Indian classical tabla, Gupta composes and performs music from a true multicultural perspective that bridges several continents. His first solo album, Namaskar, debuted in 2010. The follow-up, A Circle Has No Beginning, is to be released later this year. "Brave, bold and globally conscious music," says pioneering musician Karsh Kale about Gupta's imminent release, "created by an artist that has both feet planted in many traditions and both hands reaching out for infinite possibilities."
Sameer Gupta has performed at Lincoln Center; Birla Auditorium, Kolkata, India; SFJAZZ; Nehru Centre, London; MoMA, NYC; and Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, and has played with Falu Shah, Rez Abbasi, Marc Cary, Wallace Roney, Karsh Kale, Pandit Krishna Bhatt, Ravichandra Kulur, Mysore Manjunath, Prasant Radhakrishnan, Pandit Chitresh Das, Jason Samuels Smith, Pandit Ramesh Mishra, Pandit Anindo Chatterjee, and numerous other luminaries.
Violinist Todd Reynolds is known as one of the foremost proponents of the expansion of the violin past its wood-bound tradition and into digital practice and invention. He has worked with Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, and Bang on a Can, and is a founder of the string quartet known as Ethel. His compositional and performance style is a hybrid of old and new technology, multidisciplinary aesthetic, and pan-genre composition and improvisation. His double-disc debut album Outerborough was released in 2011 on the Innova label, where it rose to the top of Amazon's classical charts that year.
On Friday, September 30, at 8pm, New York City jazz giant Marc Cary joins Gupta at MASS MoCA for a night when tradition meets evolution, on a musical journey across decades. Lickety Split, MASS MoCA's in-house café, serves up fresh salads, homemade soup, and lip-smacking pub fare. The MASS MoCA bar is always well-stocked with local beer from Bright Ideas Brewing and Berkshire Mountain Distillery spirits. Concert tickets are $10 for students, $12 in advance, $18 day of, and $24 preferred. Tickets for all events are available through the MASS MoCA box office located on Marshall Street in North Adams, open 11am to 5pm every day, except Tuesdays. Tickets can also be charged by phone by calling 413.662.2111 x1 during box office hours or purchased online at massmoca.org. All events are held rain or shine.
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES
Job Titles:
- Curator of Visual Arts at MASS Mo
Job Titles:
- Member of the MASS MoCA FOUNDATION BOARD of TRUSTEES